Exercise equipment is used to strengthen, tone, and rehabilitate the human body. Exercise equipment exists in many forms including weight training machines, free weights, elastic bands, and cardio vascular machines (e.g., treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, etc.). Different exercise equipment may be used to isolate and train specific muscles, muscles groups, or areas of the body. Different exercise equipment may also be used to isolate and train the same muscle group or the same bodily area using different movements.
Gluteus weight training machines typically offer little to no rotation of the user's legs when training the gluteus muscles (i.e., gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus). Common gluteus weight training machines require the user to perform squatting motions, lunging motions, or leg press motions. These motions indirectly train the gluteus muscles as other muscles such as the user's thigh muscles or quadriceps absorb much of the impact of the motion. As a result, the gluteus muscles are not effectively impacted during these exercises thereby making it more difficult to effectively train the gluteus muscles.
Squats, lunges, and leg press motions also restrict the user's legs to limited extension and flexion movements. These restricted motions create focused points of stress at the knees, hips, and lower back thereby making the user more susceptible to injury at the knees, hips, and lower back.
A further disadvantage of typical gluteus training machines is that the gluteus muscles are not trained in a manner that mimics the muscles' use in sports. For example, running, track and field, basketball, tennis, soccer, etc. require the gluteus muscles to perform rotary movements of the leg. Restricted motions such as squats, lunges, and leg presses do not simulate these movements. As such, typical gluteus weight training machines do not directly develop the gluteus muscles in the manner in which they would be used by athletes to perform the most common sports movements.
Free weight exercises such as the use of free weights in conjunction with leg lunges similarly restrict the motion of the legs, involve other muscle groups, increase stress at critical points (e.g., knees, hips, and lower back), and fail to mimic commonly used motions. Resistance cables have been developed to train the gluteus muscles. However, resistance cables do not control the user's form and have a fixed amount of resistance. As such, resistance cables are not suitable for weight training. Effective weight training requires muscle overloading whereby the user gradually increases the resistance encountered when performing the exercise in order to gradually increase the strength of the muscle.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a weight training machine that effectively trains the gluteus muscles through natural movements of the muscles. There is a need for such a machine to provide muscle overloading while reducing the risk of injury to the user.